Rio Grande (1950)

Rio Grande (1950), a western starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara, is an action-packed adventure set against the background of a dramatic landscape. The film is the third installment in director John Ford’s “cavalry trilogy” series and is based on a James Warner Bellah short story, “Mission With No Record,” that appeared in The Saturday Evening Post on September 27, 1947. James Kevin McGuinness wrote the screenplay.

Rio Grande is set on the western frontier during the summer of 1879. The film follows the life of Lieutenant Colonel Kirby Yorke (John Wayne) who is tasked with defense of the territory’s white settlers against the attacks of marauding Apache. In addition to dealing with a shortage of troops, and the Apache using Mexico as a sanctuary from pursuit, Col. Yorke becomes embroiled in a personal drama with his estranged southern wife, Kathleen (Maureen O'Hara). Events come to a head when the Apache kidnap of a wagonload of children from the fort Yorke protects.

The movie depicts a period of post-bellum American frontier history in which territorial expansion produced conflict with indigenous American peoples, as well as tensions with neighboring Mexico. Though largely focused on the personal relationship between the main characters, the film also presents another view of Reconstruction, one situated in the West, in which American conflict with the Apache present the problem of race as an American, and not simply a southern, dilemma. In the film, former Unionists and former Confederates unite in defense of a common enemy.

Rio Grande’s director, John Ford, is known for both his westerns and his film adaptations of American classic novels like The Grapes of Wrath. Having previously made two wildly successful westerns, Fort Apache (1948) and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), Ford had little interest in Rio Grande, reputedly producing it so that the studio would agree to his casting of John Wayne in The Quiet Man. Rio Grande is a testament to Ford’s legendary efficiency, as it was shot in just 32 days, with only 352 takes from 335 camera setups. The film was a solid success, grossing $2.25 million in its first year.